


Of Dark Skies And Golden Stars...

by Lilyluna43



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Cancer, Chronic Illness, Depression, Grief/Mourning, Phil Coulson acts as Skye's father figure, Protective Phil Coulson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2019-05-14
Packaged: 2020-03-05 13:36:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18829726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilyluna43/pseuds/Lilyluna43
Summary: It has been four months since Lincoln's sacrifice and Daisy feels like she might just start to see the end of the tunnel. She is caught unaware when a mighty foe she had vanquished years ago comes back to haunt her, namely: cancer.The road to recovery will be a long and difficult one, as bonds are formed and broken along the way.P.S.: This will ignore everything that happens after S3E22





	Of Dark Skies And Golden Stars...

It’s been four months since Lincoln’s sacrifice. Though he knew from experience that there was no universal rule regarding the duration or intensity of grief, Coulson couldn’t help the worry from occupying his mind as he observed Skye sneaking out of the base for the second time that day. Watching her, it was difficult to imagine that so many weeks had passed since the Hive had made her give half of her blood, but Coulson knew that the physical state she was in now was due to an entirely different cause. Hunched shoulders, dull eyes, weightloss…

Grief could do that to you. It could turn you into a vengeful, bitter and cold-blooded man, making you kill someone with your bare -albeit prosthetic- hand, or it could defeat you like if defeated Skye.

Coulson had always been amazed by the strength and pure resilience he had seen in the young agent time and time again, but it seemed like she had lost that somewhere between Lincoln’s death and the guilt from her actions under Hive’s influence. And now Coulson felt powerless as he watched her sink down deeper and deeper in her self-imposed isolation and misery.

She returned to duty roughly a month after Lincoln’s death, after he had a long and rather difficult talk with her -though it was mostly a one-sided talk. A loss like this could change a person’s perspective on certain things and future plans, and he had needed to know if she was staying and if he could count on her – he was more relieved than he cared to admit when she decided to stay. He had hoped that being back in the team -although not in the field yet- would help her heal, maybe remind her of the friends she still had by her side and the reason she decided to join SHIELD in the first place, but he was disappointed.

Her interactions with the team were strictly professional, no room for small-talk or any of the friendly batter that usually took place in any meeting. She would dutifully report when required, but her mouth would clamp shut as soon as the subject deviated from her mission. Coulson knew that all team members had at one point tried to talk to her, either to comfort her or to reassure her that they didn’t hold her action under Hive’s influence against her, but all of them got nothing more than silence and a curt nod.

When she wasn’t on mission, she seemed to spend her time evading everyone. His worry for her had led Coulson to follow Skye the first few times she snuck out of the base, but after realising that she always went to the same abandoned park a few blocks away, he left her alone, understanding that she needed the solitude and calmness of the place. He had once tried to approach her in the park, but the moment he had sat down next to her on the bench, she had gotten up and returned to the base.

And Coulson tried to be patient and understanding, he really did. He tried giving her space and privacy, he tried being for her a shoulder to cry on or a partner to spar with when the emotions got too much, he tried again and he waited.

If he was honest with himself, the most painful part for him was seeing Skye in so much pain and not being able to help her, to speak to her or simply support her in any way. _You’re not_ _her father_ , May reminded him on a regular basis, and Coulson’s answer was always the same: _She’s the closest thing I have to a daughter_. And he meant it.

From the very beginning he had developed a soft spot for her. The first few weeks she spent on the Bus, she would come into his office when work was done, claiming boredom since Fitz and Simmons spent most of their free-time nerding around, and Ward and May trained in the gym. It was a strange experience at first, to have her lounging on the couch reading a book or tapping away on her phone as he filled paperwork for his superiors, but he got used to it quicker than he thought possible. Somewhat her relaxed presence made _him_ feel more relaxed in his own office, and gradually those evenings turned into games of chess, long discussions about any subject that crossed their minds, and sometimes just comfortable silence as the two of them did their separate work or reading. It felt good to be able to spend time with someone just like that, with no further agenda, and though he wasn’t stupid and didn’t divulge any information she wasn’t privy on, he knew that he could trust her.

And Phil Coulson could count the people he trusted on one hand, an unfortunate side-effect of working in a super-spy organisation. He trusted May, he trusted Fury and he trusted Barton -at least before his Loki-induced madness.

Although he did his best to stay strictly professional when on mission, he knew that he had grown quite protective of Skye and that had occasionally caused some tension between May and himself. In several instances where his worry over Skye had impacted his decision-making, he had been glad to have May by his side to keep him level-headed, though she would always remind him that he wasn't her father.

BAM

Coulson jumped as May slammed a large folder onto his desk, visibly unimpressed by his phasing-out. “If I have to get your attention one more time, Director, I will have to resort to more drastic measures” She said between gritted teeth. Fighting back a smile at her typical sarcasm, he pushed his worry over Skye out of his mind and concentrated on the matter at hand, namely recruits.

And yes, he might’ve gotten used to calling her Daisy aloud, but to him she would always be Skye.


End file.
